Fiction Writer's Workshop

Master the Elements of the Writing Workshop

The great paradox of the writing life is that to be a good writer, you must be both interested in the world around you and comfortable working in solitude for hours on end. Fiction Writer's Workshop, Second Edition, is designed to help you foster a strong sense of independence—of being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-critical—in order to accomplish what others seek in classroom groups.

In this comprehensive guide, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich, explores every aspect of the art of fiction and provides all the tools and techniques you'll need to develop day-to-day discipline as well as a personal writing style, such as:

   • More than 100 writing exercises, including dozens that are new to this edition, that challenge you to experiment with diverse writing styles
   • Specific statements of purpose for each exercise, to help guide you and instruct you at every step of the creative process
   • Self-critique questions to help you assess your work and identify strengths and weaknesses before moving on to the next lesson
   • The full text of eight acclaimed short stories, with analysis and exercises, to provide models for your own writing and help reinforce the lessons you've learned


The practical, insightful methods offered in this workshop will clarify your voice, broaden your perspective, and strengthen your fiction.Josip Novakovich is the author of a novel (April Fool's Day, HarperCollins), three story collections (Infidelities: Stories of War and Lust, Yolk and Salvation and Other Disasters), two collections of narrative essays (Plum Brandy: Croatian Journeys and Apricots from Chernobyl), and was anthologized in Best American Poetry, Pushcart Prize, and O. Henry Prize Stories. He has received the Whiting Writer's Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.